Persephin (PSPN) is one of the neurotrophic factors of the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) family ligands (GFLs) which have been found to promote the survival of specific populations of neurons. The aim of this study was to assess the potential therapeutic function of gene-modified mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)-Lv-PSPN-MSCs in 6-OHDA-induced Parkinsonâ€™s disease (PD) rats models. Here, we worked on the isolation, purification, identification and amplification of MSCs in vitro. The expression analysis revealed that several of the neural marker proteins like nestin, GFAP and S100 were expressed by rat MSCs. MES23.5 cells co-cultured with Lv-PSPN-MSCs showed less 6-OHDA induced cell death than control cells in vitro. When Lv-PSPN-MSCs were injected into the striatum of PD rats, we observed the survival rate, migration, differentiation and the behavior change of PD rats. We found that Lv-PSPN-MSCs showed higher survival rate in rat brain compared with Lv-null-MSCs. Rotational behavior showed that rats receiving Lv-PSPN-MSCs showed the most significant improvement compared with those in other groups. HPLC results showed the content of DA in striatum of rats which received Lv-PSPN-MSCs was highest compared with those in other groups. In conclusion, our results suggest that transplantation of Lv-PSPN-MSCs can lead to remarkable therapeutic effects in PD rats.

Gene regulation remains one of the major challenges for gene therapy in clinical trials. In the present study, we first generated a binary tetracycline-on (Tet-On) system based on two lentivirus vectors, one expressing both human glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (hGDNF) and humanized...

Motorneuron degenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), are characterized by the progressive and rapid loss of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, leading to paralysis and death. GDNF (glial cell line derived neurotrophic factor) has been previously shown to be...

OBJECTIVE: Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) have great potential for cell-based transplantation therapy in treating neurological disease. However, the best combination of various trophic factors to produce full neural differentiation of BMSCs was still unclear. In our study, we aimed to...

With the increasing use of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in cell therapies, factors regulating BMSC differentiation have become the interest of current research. In this study, we investigated the effects of glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) on...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor dysfunction that occurs secondary to loss of dopaminergic neurons in the nigrostriatal pathway. Current pharmacotherapies focus on the replacement of lost dopamine to alleviate disease symptoms. However,...

The glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) potential as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of Parkinson's Disease (PD) has been extensively explored. However, the mechanism of the GDNF neuroprotective effects is still unclear. In this study, the neuroprotective mechanism of the...